Essentials for Youth Ministry
Back to All Tracks

Foundations in Faith & Leadership

Essentials for Youth Ministry

Dr. Elizabeth Corrie and Dr. Jillinda Weaver

What are the best practices for teaching, mentoring, and ministering to young people today? Build a theology of youth ministry grounded in research and practice, and gain practical tools for empowering the next generation of faithful, engaged leaders. Work through each lesson at your own pace and return anytime.

100% Asynchronous 4 Units Self-Paced

Course Units

Your course is ready.

Click any lesson below to open it in the video player. When you're done, hit "Mark Complete" and we'll move you to the next one. Take it at your own pace — your access doesn't expire.

Final Assessment
Complete all units, then take the 15-question quiz to earn your certificate.
Take the Quiz →
01
Unit 1
Bridging the Generation Gap Through Empathy
Understanding adolescence, hope, and the needs-based practice of empathy across difference
19 Lessons · 196 min
Unit 1 lays the relational foundation for everything that follows. You'll examine where the modern "generation gap" comes from and how adolescence itself became a category adults misunderstand, then build a working, needs-based practice of empathy — naming feelings, identifying underlying needs, and recognizing what young people are really asking for when it comes to respect, choice, and being truly seen. The unit closes with four candid interviews that put these ideas into real, human conversation.
The Origins of the Generation Gap: Adolescence as Undeveloped
12:49
Introduction to the Springtide Research Institute
3:15
Introduction to Interrupting Hope
7:34
Threats to Hope
12:23
Interrupting Hope
17:52
Bridging the Gap by Becoming Agents of Empathy
2:58
Bridging the Gap by Becoming Agents of Empathy, Part 1
2:58
Empathy Blockers
9:12
Feelings
10:19
Needs
8:35
Constellation 1: Respect and Related Needs
7:19
Constellation 2: Choice and Power in Your World
5:41
Constellation 3: Being Seen, Understood, and Accepted
8:33
Bridging the Gap Through Empathy
9:12
Bridging Relationships Across Difference
9:48
Interview with Cody Sanders
13:32
Interview with David Cho
17:48
Interview with Kyandra Frazier
9:42
Interview with Peter Cariaga
26:19
Unit 1
Required Readings
15 PDFs across 6 lesson groups
15 PDFs
Lessons 1–2
Unit 1 Course Reading
Connection Matters for Mental Health
2020 Report (pp. 53–85)
Springtide Research Institute
Lessons 3–5
Unit 1 Discussion Checklist
Being and Becoming Agents of Courageous Hope
Wimberly & Parker
Lessons 6–7
NVC Learning Packet: Bridging the Gap
Empathy Blockers
Lessons 8–9
NVC Learning Packet: Feelings & the Body
NVC Learning Packet: Guess the Feeling
NVC Learning Packet: Guess the Need
NVC Learning Packet: NVC Spectrums
Lessons 11–13
NVC Learning Packet: Respect Works
NVC Learning Packet: Choice and Power
NVC Learning Packet: Being Seen, Understood & Accepted
Lessons 14–15
Crossing Over
Elizabeth Corrie
02
Unit 2
Pedagogies of Faith Formation
Theories and practices for teaching youth effectively
22 Lessons · 134 min
Unit 2 explores how young people actually learn — and how congregations, whether they realize it or not, are always teaching something. You'll examine deliberative theology and liberation pedagogy, learn to hold space for young people's real questions about God, and build practical skill in catechesis, confirmation, and Bible study — including play itself as a teaching tool.
Introducing Deliberative Theology and Pedagogy
7:05
Understanding the Three Curricula That All Youth Ministries Teach
6:51
Fashioning People of Faith: Understanding How Congregations Teach
7:19
Liberation Pedagogy
5:22
The Teacher and the Learners
2:42
Make It Matter
3:56
Moving Toward Action
3:35
Liberating the Body of Christ: Your Young Will See Visions
2:17
Questing and Holy Listening
7:29
God as Thou and the Holy One of Israel
4:33
Letting the Questions Guide You
3:13
Seeking God
5:11
What Is Catechesis and Confirmation?
11:09
Insights From the Confirmation Project
6:50
How Do We Pass On the Faith Effectively?
9:49
Becoming Biblical Iconoclasts
8:01
Overview of Different Bible Study Practices
8:13
Engaging Wisdom Literature With Youth — Featuring Lauren Calvin Cooke
8:42
Bibliodrama — Featuring Jasmine "Jazzy" Johnson
9:31
Pedagogy of Play
3:56
The Implicit Curriculum in Games
4:12
Building Connections
3:53
Unit 2
Required Readings
15 PDFs across 6 lesson groups
15 PDFs
Lessons 1–3
The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, Part 1
The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry, Part 2
A Curriculum for Communal Faith
Boyung Lee
Handout 1: Module 1 Worksheet
Handout 2: Module 1 Worksheet
Lessons 4–8
Handout: Co-Learning
Handout: Make It Matter
Handout: Moving Toward Action
Handout: Your Young Will See Visions
Lessons 9–12
Handout: Listen Deeply
Handout: Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
Lessons 13–15
Cultivating Teen Faith
Lessons 16–19
CEB Student Bible
Youth Ministry as Peace Education
Lessons 20–22
The Jesus Game
03
Unit 3
Worship, Prayer & Spiritual Practice
Forming young people through liturgy, rest, discernment, and prayer
17 Lessons · 137 min
Unit 3 turns to formation through practice rather than instruction alone. You'll consider how liturgy shapes desire, why rest and Sabbath are countercultural for anxious teens, and how discernment and embodied prayer — from the Examen to praying with our feet — can become lifelong spiritual habits. The unit closes by asking what corporate worship can look like when young people are genuinely part of it.
We Are What We Love: The Formative Power of Liturgy
9:19
Worship as Counter Formation
4:24
Anxious Teens and the Liturgy of Busyness
7:45
Wresting with Rest
12:15
Practicing Sabbath
10:51
Discernment
13:24
The Examen
6:17
Vocational Discernment and Other Practices
9:17
Centering Prayer in the Body
12:44
Traditional Modes of Prayer
9:12
Examples of Prayer Practices
5:13
Using the Body to Pray
6:39
Breathe Prayer and Practicing the Presence of God
4:23
Praying With Our Feet
3:48
The Role of Corporate Worship in Youth Formation
9:11
Your Congregation, Worship, and Young People
9:34
Worshipping With Youth
2:46
Unit 3
Required Readings
14 PDFs across 6 lesson groups
14 PDFs
Lessons 1–3
Handout 1: Module 1 Worksheet
Handout 2: Module 1 Worksheet
Lessons 4–5
Wrestling with Rest
Nathan Stucky
Lessons 6–8
Reading (pp. 63–85)
David White
Handout: The Examen
Handout: Vocational Discernment
Lessons 9–11
Handout: Centering Practice
Handout: Centering Prayer and Other Practices
Handout: Traditional Modes of Prayer
Lessons 12–14
Handout: Praying with the Body
Breath Prayer
Handout: Breath Prayer and Practicing the Presence of God
Handout: Praying with Our Feet
Lessons 15–17
Worship with Teenagers
Matthis
04
Unit 4
Ethics, Nonviolence & Youth Leadership
Ethical discernment, gospel nonviolence, mission engagement, and empowering youth as leaders
21 Lessons · 156 min
Unit 4 turns theological formation into practical wisdom for the field. You'll build a framework for ethical analysis, examine the difference between individual and systemic responses to injustice, and explore what it means to form young disciples capable of nonviolent, empowering action. The unit closes with hands-on guidance for mission trips and service projects, and a case for why youth themselves should be leaders — not just recipients — in the life of the church.
Three Foci of Doing Ethical Analysis
6:42
Four Sources for Grounding Our Ethical Analysis
9:35
Individual vs. Systems
4:18
Katartismos
5:18
Empowering Support Across Difference
10:57
Building Confidence for Faithful Action
10:08
Understanding Nonviolence: The Dependency of Power
9:54
Teaching Empowering Ideas: Dependency of Power
5:35
Understanding Nonviolence: The Different Forms of Action
7:35
Teaching Empowering Ideas: The Different Forms of Action
5:04
Jesus, Nonviolence and Christian Discipleship
10:13
Teaching Empowering Ideas: Bibles and Newspapers
6:45
Mission Trips & Service Projects — The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
6:14
Discerning Design: Fair Trade Principles of Travel and Mission
7:34
The Questions to Ask Before, During, and After
10:00
Why Youth Should Be Leaders in the Church
4:50
How to Remove Barriers to Your Youth Leadership
8:34
Upskilling Youth
8:02
Discerning an Issue
6:46
Laying the Groundwork for Action: Learning
3:41
Supporting Youth for Transformative Action
8:28
Unit 4
Required Readings
1 PDF · Lesson 1
1 PDF
Lesson 1
Handout: Three Foci of Doing Ethical Analysis

Final Certificate Quiz

When you're ready, take the 15-question final assessment. A passing score of 70% earns your certificate of completion — you can take it as many times as you need.

Unit 1 · Bridging the Generation Gap Through Empathy
Introduction
Final Assessment · Essentials for Youth Ministry

Certificate Quiz

15 questions. You need 70% or higher to earn your certificate of completion.

⚠️ Clicking outside this window will restart the quiz.

Question 1 of 15

0%

Required Reading
Download